Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT/ Kiss n Digital Review: Digital Photography Review

Rear of camera controls

The overall layout of controls on the rear of the 350D is similar to the 300D however there are a couple of changes. Firstly the actual design of the buttons has changed, they're larger and easier to use. The drive button has moved to the rear of the camera from the top, the lamp button has moved, the CF indicator lamp is now beside the LCD monitor and the four way controller has more functions attached to it. The function SET button can now be customized.

Hard buttons = Menu shortcuts, and there's a problem

An expanded set of hard buttons compared to the 300D however there has been a change in the way some of the hard buttons work. The ISO, Metering, AF, WB and SET (if programmed) buttons are all in actual fact simply shortcuts to that option in the camera menu. This means that if you press the AF button you have to look at the LCD monitor to make the changes (the command dial can be used to change setting). However the setting change is not reflected on the LCD panel (above the LCD monitor) until the change has been made nor are any of the settings relayed to the viewfinder status line during change.

There also appears to be a problem in the functionality of setting changes, on most D-SLR's which use hard buttons to change such settings (including the EOS 300D) the camera remembers the setting if you half-press the shutter release. Not so on the 350D, see the animations below (examples for ISO and WB but the same also applies for Metering, AF and SET buttons). You HAVE to press the SET button once you've made your setting change stick.

Shooting mode

Button	Operation
	Enter / Leave the Menu The camera menu is described on the following pages of this review.
	Information Displays a page on the LCD monitor summarizing the current camera settings.
	Play Displays the last image shot (the last image on the card). The EOS 350D is a "shooting priority" camera, that means that no matter what is displayed on the rear LCD this will be cancelled if any of the cameras photographic functions (example half-pressing the shutter release) are accessed.
	Erase (record review) During record review press the Erase button to display an "Erase [Cancel] [OK]" option, selecting OK removes the image from the CF card before it is finalized.
	Exposure compensation / Aperture Hold this button and turn the main dial to change exposure compensation (+/- 2.0 EV in 0.3 or 0.5 EV steps). In manual exposure mode hold this button to change aperture.
	Drive mode Press to select drive mode, we found that this button was too easily pressed and hence accidental selection of continuous or self-timer drive modes. This button should really be a hold and turn dial just like the exposure compensation button. • Single • Continuous • Self-timer / Remote
	Backlight Press this button to activate the LCD panel backlight, the light stays on for five seconds.
	ISO sensitivity (menu shortcut) Press once then roll the main dial to change ISO sensitivity: • 100 • 200 • 400 • 800 • 1600
	Metering mode (menu shortcut) Press to select metering mode (displays on-screen menu): • Evaluative • Partial • Center-weighted average
	SET button (menu shortcut) By default this button has no function in shooting mode, however it can be customized via custom function 1 to: Image size & quality, Parameter set, Playback or AF frame select (all four buttons).
	White Balance (menu shortcut) Press to select Auto Focus mode (displays on-screen menu): • One shot • AI Focus • AI Servo
	White Balance (menu shortcut) Press to select white balance (displays on-screen menu): • Auto • Daylight • Shade • Cloudy • Tungsten • Fluorescent • Flash • Custom

Play mode

Button	Operation
	Enter / Leave the Menu The camera menu is described on the following pages of this review.
	Information Switches between two different play display modes: • Single image view with folder, file number, exposure and frame count • Thumbnail image with exposure information, histogram and blinking highlights
	Jump mode Enters jump mode which allows you to skip through images by shot date, 10 images or 100 images (selectable by pressing the up / down arrows).
	Play Leaves play mode. You can also leave play mode by simply half-pressing the shutter release button.
	Erase Press the Erase button to display an "Erase [Cancel] [Erase] [All...] " option, the All option allows you to remove all the images on the CF card except those which have been protected.
	Direct Print / PictBridge Activates direct printing of displayed image via USB.
	Four way controller Press to left or right to browse through images on the compact flash card. Also used to navigate menu options / pop-up options.

Lens mount controls

	On the side of the lens mount are the final set of camera controls. First is the flash open button, a press of this will electronically release the flash unit. Below the lens release button is the depth of field preview button, hold this and the lens stops down to the indicated aperture to give a preview of the depth of field through the viewfinder.